STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. — On Monday, Stone Mountain city leaders voted to authorize an investigation into financial allegations involving the mayor.
Mayor Dr. Beverly Jones is accused of changing the city’s bank accounts without proper authorization.
Leaders not only discussed the possibility of an investigation into Jones: They also announced that they would be terminating the contract with the city’s current attorney, Jeff Strickland.
The council voted to appoint the city’s solicitor, Angela C. Couch, as the new city attorney.
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The meeting was filled with heated conversations and confusion as council members discussed concerns over the mayor’s authority regarding financial matters.
Councilmember Gil Freeman expressed his apprehension about voting on a consideration to draft a resolution outlining how elected officials should interact with banking institutions without proper authorization.
“For years and decades these rules were in place, and now there’s a problem because of the current mayor. That’s a problem to me,” said Freeman.
Monday’s meeting followed Mayor Dr. Beverly Jones‘ modification of the city’s Downtown Development Authority’s Truist bank account, making herself the sole authorized user and removing Councilmember Teresa Crow and Mayor Pro Tem Ryan Smith.
Jones repeatedly denied removing any names during the meeting, claiming she only acted in response to the bank’s warning about potential risk to the account.
“There was no intention to change an account. My intention was to make sure the city was covered,” explained Jones.
City Manager Shawntez Edmondson claimed that Jones presented a city resolution to remove the two council members. However, Smith confirmed that the council did not approve such a resolution, and it remains unclear who authored it.
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“This is a lesson learned, and I think we can all grow from this and learn from this, and that’s what we’re hoping,” said Edmonson.
Jones responded to the vote to authorize an independent investigation just moments later, telling Channel 2’s Brittany Kleinpeter that she has nothing to hide.
“I’ve been nothing but straight-laced with the city,” Jones added.
Carl Wright, Chair of the Downtown Development Authority of the City of Stone Mountain, spoke out ahead of the meeting, sharing the following statement in part:
“We are lucky in that this fraud was discovered before DDA funds were stolen, as far as we know. However, let me and this Board be clear — this is not acceptable. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, three, what are we at — four times? Shame on me. This Board tonight authorized our attorney to independently investigate what happened here, who was involved, and how it occurred in order to hold the culpable parties accountable and to report the results of his investigation to this Board in a public community meeting. We have also instructed our attorney to set up a separate matter so that this Board can seek to recover the costs of the investigation from the appropriate parties responsible for this breach of public trust.”
A spokesperson for Truist Bank shared the following statement regarding the incident:
“We are actively working toward a resolution regarding the management of the city’s accounts with Truist.”
The council also voted to draft a resolution outlining how elected officials may communicate with banking institutions and under what circumstances authorization is required.
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